Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Monday afternoon we drove up to the mission office for my trainer meeting, and my comp ate dinner at the Mission President's home since it was his last night. So I stayed the night in Roodepoort, where the MTC is, with another missionary. We went to a member's house for FHE and they fed us. It's still weird for me to teach white people though haha. I'm not used to the Afrikaaners' accents at all, but it was cool.

On Tuesday morning we went to transfer meeting where I met my greenie. His name is Elder Mpiyakhe (mm-pee-ah-kay). He’s from South Africa, and he's Xhosa, which is powerful! I've had two Utahn companions and two Xhosan companions so far! South Africans are super chill, so we've been having a good time! We went for Roman's pizza afterwards with a bunch of other Elders, so it was cool. And then we just shopped and drove back to our area. Then we got there at like 5pm and I was just like my son needs to learn how to get things done. So the first thing we did in the area was go street contacting for like 45 minutes hahaha. I'm not about easing into missionary work, so we just dove right into it! It was a good experience though. He didn't really know what to do at first and I was just like yeah, I remember that feeling! But he got the hang of it pretty well. And then we were able to teach a couple of lessons as well. We taught about the Book of Mormon so it was a lesson that he was familiar with. He was able to participate which was sweet! It's pretty fun training, because I know exactly what he's feeling and how everything is new and weird, but we're having fun with it.

Then on Thursday it was my birthday! What what, turned 19. Still feel 12 though :) We celebrated by going to a pizza joint called Panarotti's, and on Thursday nights they have this special where they keep on bringing out different pizzas and you can eat as much as you want. I ate 10 slices. It was pretty hard to stand up hahaha, but it was awesome.

And Friday we got to go to the temple! And we got lost driving through Joburg, so we missed the 9am session but we just chilled and waited for the 10am one, so it went well. But yeah, I'm driving 100% of the time because I'm with a South African, a Ghanan, and a Malouian (no idea how to spell those) and they can all drive but none of them have a license, and yo it's rough. I'm tired of driving the car, it has no power at all haha. But I'm better at driving stick now, which is good. And then we got McDonalds again, which tastes so flipping good! So much better than America. Or maybe it's just because I haven't had a good burger and shake in 7 months, who knows. And then we got lost on the way back as well! So yeah, I know the city of Johannesburg very well now hahaha.

On Sunday there weren't that many people because the power was out in parts of Sebokeng, but the two kids who just got baptized were confirmed! I talked to one of them later that night and he was like "when I went back to my seat, I was expecting to see the Holy Ghost” hahaha. Kids are so innocent. But it was nice though.

So yeah, that's about it for this week! We really didn't spend much time in our area just because there was always somewhere else we had to be, but the work in Sebokeng is going well! Progressing like crazy!

Thanks for the birthday wishes and everything. Talk to you all later!
Elder Savage

Stephen & his new “greenie,” Elder Mpiyakhe

Whoo! California!

Panarotti’s! (The employee taking the picture took it at a weird angle haha, but I guess it’s alright.)